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Saturday, February 25, 2017

Version 7 STI Seats - 99 Impreza

My '99 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS Coupe may be my rallycross car, but I still like to keep it looking nice. While I usually focus my racecar funds on making it perform better, splurging a little to make it turn heads is always fun. This time around I decided to change up my interior. I had been running JDM Version 6 seats and decided to go a different route.

The goal for this car aesthetically is to blend some bits together from my favorites. The Impreza P1, RB5, and 22B are all favorites of mine, so I've tried to emulate features from those cars on mine. I tracked down some Version 7 STI seats (which resemble the 22B and RB5 seats) and got some help from Zealous Interiors for matching JDM Blue Door Cards to tie it all together. The result has me smiling every time I get in the car!

There were a few hurdles to jump with this changeover. The Zealous Interior door card inserts are great quality and come pre-cut, so it took a lot of trial and error to get the panels lined up just right. I still haven't attempted the rear panels, which I will have to remove to do properly. When the new suspension goes on this car, the rear seats will come out anyways... so I'll do them then. With a little patience and a second set of hands, I was able to set the front door cards pretty well without too many hiccups. Luckily, the Alcantara cleans up easily so I was able to wash up a few minor mistakes.

The seats themselves needed some modification, too. While all Impreza seats between 1993 and 2007 are interchangeable between cars, the height of the rails and brackets can vary from model to model. These JDM Version 7 Seats are out of a 2002-2003 or "Bugeye" STI and sit much too high in the car. Because the height adjustment on the Japanese drivers seat is on the passenger side in the US, we had to get the whole seat lower. Using USDM Impreza seat rails, which sit the entire seat nearly two inches lower, we swapped the Version 7 seats onto these rails and brought the seat back to a a much better driving position.

There are still a few more bits I want to track down and add to the interior, but these seats have really transformed things in here. They're very comfortable for someone my size (5'11" and 225lbs) and look fantastic with the matching door cards. I'm incredibly happy with how these turned out!